WinterSpring - 541-552-0621 (business) 541-552-0620 (client)

Facing Loss, Embracing Life Again ~ Together

To carry out our mission, we provide facilitated peer-to-peer support groups for adults and facilitated groups for teens and children. We also offer information and training on the process and impact of grief and loss on individuals and families through our volunteer training and our outreach programs. We have a passionate and very involved Board and approximately 80 active volunteers who give us over 3,000 hours annually. We are the only nonprofit organization in the Rogue Valley providing broad-based peer-to-peer bereavement services and set a standard of excellence in education and compassionate support. Our adult groups include: Bereaved Parents, Spouse Loss, Parent Loss, Loss by Suicide, Animal Companion Loss, General Bereavement and Coping with the Holidays. Through facilitated support groups, we offer children and adolescents the opportunity to find their own means of expression and transformation on their grief journeys. Our volunteers receive comprehensive training to provide appropriate, compassionate and empowering support to grieving individuals and families. We take our services to schools, employers, and community groups. Our Board of Directors provides the leadership necessary for strong programs to flourish. Ranging in age from 25 – 70, they serve on committees, engage in fund raising, volunteer in programs and contribute financially.

Just as loved ones are celebrated and acknowledged in a funeral serve, WinterSpring also offers people the opportunity to honor a loved one by having his/her name engraved in a stone at our Memorial Grove Wall of Remembrance in the Donahue-Fronmayer Park in Medford. Every year on Memorial Day weekend, we have a ceremony to honor the new stone engravings and those from past years. Rituals like this help people to cope long after the death when the ache still lives in their hearts.

We work to collaborate with as many related groups as possible to spread our compassionate work into the community. For example, WinterSpring is a United Way Agency, a member of the Jackson County Human Services Consortium, and Jackson County Youth Suicide Prevention Coalition.

How is WinterSpring funded?

WinterSpring is funded largely by community donations (80%) and local granting foundations (20%). We request donations from people attending our groups, but we never turn anyone away due to lack of funds. Please go to winterspring.org to donate.

What makes WinterSpring unique?

The staff and board of WinterSpring know that sooner or later everyone grieves the loss of someone special. When this happens, we all need compassionate peer support to nourish us in our bereavement process.

What we provide…

Connecting people to people in a healthy grieving process
Facilitating bereavement support groups and education for adults
Supporting children and families in grief through our Children’s Program
Supporting teens in on-site grief groups at several middle and high schools in the Rogue Valley
Responding to school requests for our volunteers to offer grief support to students and staff after a death has occurred
Training volunteers and community members in the grief and mourning process
Referrals to other resources in the community, including counselors who have been through our grief and loss training and have a specialty in bereavement

What we can’t provide…

Counseling – we’re not counselors, but we can give you a referral list
Crisis intervention – we do have a referral list of agencies equipped to deal with crisis situations
Immediate group support for someone whose loss occurred within the past six weeks

Tags: Community Organization,Education